Nagal, Ram available for Pakistan tie

New Delhi, November 8

India’s best singles players Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan are set to be named in the Davis Cup squad for the tie against Pakistan after confirming their availability for the matches on November 29-30 at a neutral venue. 

Prajnesh Gunneswaran, who is India’s best-ranked player, is unavailable since he is getting married on the first day of the tie.

For the doubles rubber, veteran Leander Paes will make one half of the Indian team. It will be interesting to see if Rohan Bopanna will be approached and asked for his availability after publicly lashing out at the national federation for removing non-playing captain Mahesh Bhupathi.

‘If Indian pilgrims can visit Pak, why not tennis players’

Islamabad: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has filed an appeal against the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) decision of shifting the Pakistan-India tie from Islamabad to a neutral venue. In it, PTF has stated that if thousands of Indian pilgrims can visit Pakistan, then why not a 10-member tennis team.

“Every year, many Sikhs come here (to Pakistan). A large number of Indian Sikhs are all set to visit the country for celebrating the 550th birthday anniversary of the founder of Sikhism, Baba Guru Nanak in the next few days,” PTF president Salim Saifullah told a Pakistani newspaper. “Considering this, why a 10-member Davis Cup team comprising players and officials is reluctant to visit Pakistan,” he added. — PTI